[twiceaday]

Perhaps the solution is to create a website with multi-user activities (such as games) whose direct purpose is some trivial objective but whose actual goal is to provide a casual, flirty, social environment.

[potatolicious]

And we've come full circle :)

"Going to bars, joining clubs/teams, etc etc, is suuuuch a horrible time-consuming meat market."

"We'll fix this with technology!" [insert inspirational music]

[fast forward a few years]

"Online dating is suuuuuch a horrible time-consuming meat market."

"Let's get people to gather together to do something easy whose primary intent is actually providing an open environment for interaction!"

Maybe offline dating wasn't as bad as we made it out to be ;)

FWIW, OKCupid is doing just that in NYC - i.e. gender ratio-controlled IRL group events for singles.

[amirn]

There's a great interview with the founder of 'words with friends' who says this is the exact intention behind the site (more or less).

Interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFFZpF7Y_8k